Pages

01 June 2010

Our Political Kitsch

Are you as fed up as I do with the Murakami egg-wall talks in this Village by now? Everybody in the pan-dem bandwagon talks about that all the time and claimed that they all stand on the side of the eggs. The talk became so damn popular even one of the little bit crazed candidates of the last LegCo by-election feel obliged to put that in his daft campaign. For the record, I wrote a post here before the big bang in last September discussing the civil liberties in the Village, quoting the Jerusalem Prize speech, without ever imagining that the talk will become a cliché. So if I collectively made Murakami's great slap in the Israeli face a tasteless jive here, Mr Murakami, here is my sincere apology.

Today, let me try to introduce another literary idea here and see how far it will go. Recently, I've been seeing a lot of stuff online that made me think about this idea called "Kitsch".

Though Kitsch is a concept used in art criticism, I first learned the word from my pretentious reading of Milan Kundera's The Unbearable Lightness of Being. Kundera wrote:

It follows then that the aesthetic ideal of the categorical agreement with being is a world in which shit is denied and everyone acts as though it did not exist...Kitsch has its source in the categorical agreement with being.

Yes, Kitsch is the absolute denial of shit, the absolute denial of anything that doesn't go with the Grand March, "the splendid march on the road to brotherhood, equality, justice, happiness; it goes on and on, obstacles notwithstanding, for obstacles there must be if the march is to be the Grand March." Whatever there is obstructing the way towards any great ideals, Kitsch will bash it down to nonexistence. In Kitsch, nobody will admit any shitty, moronic, and retarded stuff someone did within the Grand March. Fall like this by a great leader could never be admitted in Kitsch.

The seizure of the Goddess of Democracy by the coppers is a Kitsch that denies the bloodshed in Tiananmen Square 21 years ago. At the same time, glorification of this awful piece of sculpture is just another Kitsch. Nobody except the Chinese commies and yours truly have the guts to point out the ugliness of the statue. In the Grand March to our promised land, the Hi-Tech Village with democracy and self determination, everything is beautiful and commendable. In the Grand March to democracy, hypocrisy, sexual harassment, dogs, and assfaces are nonexistence. Kitsch is the locomotive that has kept us going for 21 fucking years.

The latest Kitsch in this Village (at least online) is this clip from LegCo. The clip has been widely shared and promoted on the interweb. Netizens in this Village all praised the outstanding performance of Doctor Singsit, the first speaker in the clip. They all think that his articulation is exceptional among his peers and he should be the role model of every activists in town. Let's put aside his political ideology for a minute and ask yourself with perfect honesty; do you seriously think that Singsit is articulated at all? I have perfect respect for Singsit and his fellow GrassmudMa's activism. But honestly, what I saw in that LegCo clip is a faggot murmuring an awkward series of incomprehensible statements and bland gags. In their Grand March, of course, criticism like this is just not acceptable.

If I'm bold to define Kitsch under a local context, it's the categorical acceptance of anything anti-establishment and anti-Beijing branded under the name "democracy". In this Grand March towards "democracy", everything is perfect and necessarily accepted. Two millions people failed to turn out in the May 16 by-election? No, those are shitizens and are nonexistence. We have that 570,000 Villagers who voted and they're the only ones that matter. Faggotry in the LegCo chamber? No, it's the elegant way of speaking the truth. A clump of awkward statements? He is too knowledgeable to squeeze everything he knows in that three minutes!

Bonus exposition:

My eyebrows raised when I saw that the egg-wall metaphor became popularised among the pan-dem bandwagon, as I knew that the collective bastardisation will only make the metaphor self-referential; the System of the bandwagon would just become a wall and crush anything alien. They would ignore anybody who disagrees with them; the people who didn't turn out in the May 16 by-election are clueless and chose to stand on the wall's side. The bandwagon are the eggs, so they must unit. Little did they know that these fragile eggs eventually formed a system that takes a life of its own. The system starts marching towards its ideal, the democracy. Everything is fine within that system. Shits are simply nonexistence.

I believe for Haruki Murakami, the demarcation between the eggs and wall is a dynamic one, instead of a fixed line that cut through government on one side, and people on the other. Any collective endeavour loses sight of self-reflection could easily traverse over the border and become that big, tall wall; a system of Kitsch.

More bonus for the doctor:

As secret Commies and 50 Cent Party members, Eric and I always work hard on trolling the pan-dems here for the lulz money. I showed my sympathy for Doctor Singsit on Sunday, as I thought, it must be pretty difficult not becoming an idiot when you're overrated by a bunch of them. The doctor just didn't seem to get it. Here is my advice for you, doctor, if you manage to read up to this point:

If you and your fellas are serious about your activism, learn how to deal with assholes like me. I can assure you that the majority of our Villagers either care very little about the great things you guys done online, or like us, enjoy the lulz better than anything. If you have genuine faith in democracy where the majority rules, learn how to convince the majority instead of being a jerk and blame us for not supporting you and your basement dweller friends.

Totally agree with your article, Henry. I think what they really want is anarchy, or a totalitarian regime but run by them. I really struggle to think of anything more remote from democracy than what they are doing at present.But beign anti-establishment (for the sake of it) guarantees you fans! So maybe that's the reason why they do it. Maybe the Hi-Tech village really has do many disgruntled people. Unfortunately, many of these are also fanatics!!

Because you know, saving one person at a time is just not good enough. You got to save the entire island, the entire country from the evil doers. I applaud his activism without reservation. I recognize he is not perfect and nobody is and hence I reserve the right to make fun of him.

About the Pub

At the Libertines Pub, Hong Kong, you're invited to think otherwise. We are a bunch of rascals who got fed up with the herd mentality and would like to see you having the courage to think for yourself. Our sole objective is the liberation of your thinking through provocative, sometimes irritating, ridicule.